Preserving the healthy parts of your natural Joint

Osteoarthritis, the premature attrition of joint surfaces, leads to damage of the healthy knee cartilage. In particular cases, where preservative treatment and cartilage therapy do not suffice, the possibility of joint replacement is offered. It may be offered as either a total or partial replacement, (depending on the extent of the joint damage).

For these two surgical options, different techniques are used, but they both have significantly high rates of success.

In many cases where a cartilage transplant is not possible (older patients or those with more extensive cartilage damage), most of the natural knee can be saved by using partial prosthesis (also called an inlay or unilateral knee endoprosthesis).

The knee is made up of two chambers or compartments (only one of which may be arthritic). This treatment involves a partial metal implant to the damaged joint, similar to a dental filling. This filling effectively stops the progress of osteoarthritis, while saving the intact ligaments, cartilage and bone structure. The advantage of this approach is that preserves the natural sensitivity of the knee.
Another advantage of this joint preserving approach is that a “bone reservoir” is preserved. If, at some time in the future, more surgery is required, there is natural bone left to work with. This "buys" the patient valuable time for medical progress, or the next step of joint replacing prosthetics.

Advantages of Partial Prosthesis of the Knee

minimally invasive operation

small incision into the skin

low risk of infection

immediate exercise tolerance

improved mobility

time gained before a total joint replacement will be necessary

average durability of 10-15 years

allows return to conventional techniques

Unicompartmental Knee Resurfacing (Onlay)

Unlike total knee replacement surgery, this less-invasive procedure replaces only the damaged or arthritic parts of the knee.

First, the damaged part of the femur (thigh bone) is removed, so that the surgeon can access the damaged portion of the tibia (lower leg bone).

Next, the damaged mensicus is removed from the joint. Some bone is also shaved form the tibia, to make room for the new plastic component. Bone cement is then added to the newly prepared area (to act as "glue"), and the plastic tibial component is pressed into place.

A small amount of bone is removed from the damaged femoral condyle and an opening created for the metal femoral component. Bone cement is used to fill this area and the metal component is pressed into place.

Following the procedure, the new parts of the joint are tested by extending and flexing the knee through it's range of motion.

Repicci Prosthesis

The American dentist and orthopaedist, Dr. Repicci has used techniques of dentistry in his operating methods, with the aim of retaining as much as possible of the joint. Like an inlay in dentistry only the worn part of the joint is replaced with a metal/plastic inlay, retaining all ligaments and all parts of the joint with intact cartilage.